kimbacaffeinate
Written on Nov 19, 2012
Kendall Morgan spent her childhood hunting relics with her archaeologist father. She has a paranormal gift that helps her find objects. Lately her skills have been changing and she doesn’t quite have control of them. She has spent her life finding and protecting relics, and when she is approached by the smexy and mysterious Nathan Larraby she agrees to help the billionaire locate four powerful relics. With little instruction she finds herself headed to Italy with mercenary Jake Stone in search of a box. The tale that unfolds is action packed and may just get them all killed.
Clenney gives us three really strong, flawed characters to deal with and they were completely fleshed out, annoying traits and all. Kendall is very inquisitive and often follows her sixth sense rather than using caution. She totally reminded me of Rachel Morgan from the Hollows minus the whining. This trait drives Jake absolutely batty as he tried to protect her. He also finds himself attracted to Kendall and makes his attraction known to her. At first I found him abrasive, but he slowly grew on me. Nathan intrigues me most of all; this sexy, disheveled mystery man. He is secretive and keeps things from Kendall and Jake to protect them. I struggled with how he chose to keep them safe and out of the loop; feeling that one negated the other. It is clear he has feelings for Kendall but hasn’t acted on them. He is ruthless and I am eager to discover all of his secrets. I loved the characters they interact with from other tourists to seekers of the relic. I am very curious about the man they call the Reaper. We have a love triangle, and some intense moments but nothing really develops. Kendall cares about both men and is attracted to them both for different reasons..we shall see.
The quest was fascinating and fans of Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons will enjoy this as will fans of National Treasure and Indian Jones. We have hidden relics with power, a secret order to protect them, catacombs, booby-traps, clues and lots of action packed danger. The tale is told mainly through Jake and Kendall but every once in a while we get inside the heads of other players. This was jarring at times, and I found myself saying, "Who is speaking?" "What just happened?" It was like watching an intense scene in a movie and someone changing the channel. Despite it, I found this action packed tale intriguing and the perfect start to the Relic Seekers series.
I recommend Guardians of the Stone to fans of urban fantasy and action packed quests. While not without flaws this tale kept me highly entertained and even had a dose of humor. Anita Clenney is a New York Times Best Selling author and you can check out more of work here.
I want to thank the author and Montlake Romance for providing this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
originally posted at Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer